The Ghost Song
by webofdreams89
Summary: Some people are better forgotten. And some you will never forget, especially after they've saved your life. Soriku.


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**Author's Notes: New story, yay. This story has pretty much begged me to write it for some time now, since before summer vacation started even. Anyway, I finally got around to it.**

**Summary: Some people are better forgotten. And some you will never forget, especially after they've saved your life. Soriku.  
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**FYI: I titled this song after The Doors song by the same name, The Ghost Song, although this story resembles the song in no way whatsoever. I just liked the title.**

**Disclaimer: I do _not _own Kingdom Hearts. But I should.**

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**T****he Ghost Song**

--

Riku had just moved into town, was barely used to the slow, easy ways of folk on Destiny Island, the carefree way they went about their life, when Kairi told him, quite bluntly, that he needed to quit moping, to get up off his sorry ass and get back out in the world.

He'd raised one, delicate silver eyebrow. "I thought that I already got off my sorry ass," he drawled, the crease between his brows deepening to a line. "I _did_ move here after all."

Kairi rolled her eyes, running frustrated fingers through her auburn hair. "Riku, I agree that you _did_ move here, but you haven't left your apartment since you got here."

"That's not true! I-"

"Going to work each morning totally does _not_ count," she retorted, sitting down next to him on his lumpy 1970s-esque couch, her arm looping through his.

He frowned, silver hair falling into teal eyes. He didn't bother to brush the loose strands away, a sure sign that he was perturbed at the sudden route their conversation was heading. He began defensively, "Yesterday, I went to the-"

"-the grocery store?" she asked, laughing sardonically. "Riku, if you say you went to the grocery store, then I'm going to smack you."

His mouth opened once, quickly closing in the realization that he was, in fact, going to say the grocery store. Sighing in annoyance, he conceded defeat. "You win, Kai. I _have_ been moping since I got here. It's just that since Namine and I broke up, I-"

This time as Kairi rolled her eyes, she had the decency to look away so he wouldn't see her slight irritation with him. He was her best friend, after all, even if he was wallowing in an ocean of his own self-pity. "You know I love you, Riku, and I hate to tell you this, but you deserve to know. Riku, Namine's moved on. She's with Hayner now."

Disbelief registered upon Riku's face, wiping clean all trace of previous pity. "Where did you hear that?" he asked meekly.

"From Axel," she said simply. Axel, Kairi's older brother, was dating Roxas, who was best friends with both Hayner _and _Namine. If Axel had told her, surely that meant it was true.

"I can't believe it," he said, leaning back on his lumpy couch, covering his eyes with his hands. "I can't fucking believe it."

--

After high school, Riku had moved from his hometown of Hollow Bastion to the campus of Twilight Town University, smack dab in the middle of the city. Twilight Town was a typical college town, roughly forty percent of the population students of TTU. It had been a major change to go from the run-down Hollow Bastion to a city where everyone was friendly (with the possible exception of Seifer, who was just a plain dick) and seemed to genuinely like each other. At first he wasn't sure he even wanted to attend TTU, but it was his older brother Leon's wish, a member of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee who saw first hand how crappy crap-towns like Hollow Bastion could be, that he got to college and make something of himself. So Riku acquiesced, feeling he could do that much for Leon, especially since Leon had raised him since their parents died when Riku was barely thirteen.

After a while, Riku began to genuinely like Twilight Town. He made some really great friends as well; Axel, Tidus, Selphie, Wakka, and Kairi of course, from Destiny Islands; Yuna, her cousin Rikku, and Paine from Radiant Gardens, a suburb of Hollow Bastion; Roxas, Hayner, Pence, and Olette, all Twilight Town natives.

And then there was Namine…

She was also from Twilight Town, the most beautiful girl Riku had ever seen, which surprised him to no end because he'd always thought himself to be more than a little gay.

They began dating almost immediately, moving in together after they graduated four years later. And at first, it was great. Amazing even. But things quickly began to change after the first few months passed. Namine changed from the sweet girl Riku fell in love with to nothing short of a viper. She began picking fights with him over nothing, began breaking his things, but even this part didn't last all that long, only until one day he came home from work to find her and all her possessions gone. The only thing she'd left behind was a short, heartless note held to the fridge by a yellow smiley face magnet.

_Riku,_

_Things just aren't working out between us. You're a smart guy; I'm sure that you understand why._

_Namine_

Except he _didn't_ understand why, still didn't. The only thing he really knew for sure was that he loved her and now she was gone.

Of course, he'd tried talking with her, to no avail. She slammed the door in his face every time he tried. After a while, even stubborn Riku gave up.

Eventually, Kairi persuaded him to move to Destiny Islands to help him forget, to help him move on. There was an empty apartment in her building, she'd told him, and he, resigned in the fact that Namine for some reason never wanted to see him again, agreed.

--

This, presumably, is how Riku found himself sitting at a bar three days later, consuming beer after bottle of beer in Tifa's Seventh Heaven. He actually knew Tifa from back home, Tifa being best friend to Leon's boyfriend Cloud. Tifa had opened the first bar back home, but decided to expand the a chain after the instant success of the first. Glancing around, Riku realized that this one looked exactly like the one back home with the exception of the actual Tifa behind the counter. He took what little comfort he could in the familiarity of the place.

" 'Nother beer," he said after slamming down the now empty bottle.

"I really think you've had enough, buddy," the bartender said, eyeing him wearily. "You should probably head on home to face whatever problems you're running from."

Riku let our a bark of a laugh, dry and cynical. "No thanks, I'd rather not."

"Hmm," the bartender said, picking up a rag to wipe the counter where Riku had spilled some of his latest bottle. "I know it's not my business, but I'm just trying to give you a little sage advice, alright? The shit just stinks worse the longer you let it go."

The brashness of the statement finally sunk into Riku's hazy brain, and it made sense. Sighing, he nodded somewhat unsteadily. "You're right."

Standing, Riku pulled his wallet from his pocket. "How much to I owe you?" he asked, a deep pink high on his ordinarily pale cheeks.

"Just go home, kid," the bartender said, pitying Riku. He had been in the poor bastard's place plenty of times throughout his life and hated to see it happen to someone else, especially someone so young. "I hope you didn't drive," he added.

Riku smiled. "Nope, I walked. Planned ahead."

"Good," the man said with a smile. "Now get on home. And don't stop till you get there."

"Will do," Riku said with an unsteady wave. "See you later."

Under his breath, the bartender smiled wryly. "I sure hope not."

Riku was perhaps two blocks from the bar when he saw someone fall into step beside him. His drunken, bleary eyes swung to his right, taking in the boy who now walked next to him. He appeared to be a few years younger than Riku and was quite a bit shorter, with spiky brown hair and large, and conflicting azure eyes that looked innocent at first glance, but upon closer inspection, told of someone who'd seen a thing or two in his short lifetime.

"There's a man following you, you know," the newcomer said, smiling shyly up at Riku.

"What?" Riku asked, a furrow appearing between his eyes.

Riku was getting ready to gaze behind him, when the boy shook his head, stating, "No, don't look back at him. You don't want to encourage him, do you?" The boy smiled at him then, his blue eyes crinkling. "I'm guessing he's going to try to take your wallet. Or, you know, get into your pants." A faint blush appeared on the boy's face as he said this.

"Oh," Riku said stupidly, not knowing exactly what to say, still wanting to turn around. He found himself feeling very content with this boy, despite that fact that he didn't know, didn't even know his name.

"Maybe we should wait inside that store right there until he gives up," the boy said, pointing at the little corner store to Riku's left.

"Yeah, okay." This sounded like a very good idea to Riku. Get inside store, wait for creep to leave, get name of the pretty blue-eyed boy…Yep, it was a good plan.

So he opened the door to the store, holding it open for the boy and followed him inside. Turning around, he saw the man stalk past, staring at the silver-haired young man, rage plain on his face. As he continued walking, Riku saw a glint of steal flash in the dim lighting of the street light.

"You'll probably want to buy yourself a hangover kit," the blue-eyed boy began, redirecting Riku's attention. "You'll really be feeling it tomorrow." He laughed gently, his smile wide. Riku felt his face warming, returning the smile.

"You're right about that."

From the corner of his eye, he saw the girl behind the corner look up from her magazine, one eye brow raised in confusion. Shrugging, she went back to reading, although Riku could feel her eyes on him as soon as his back was to her. _Jeez, _he thought_, I'm not going to steal anything._

He followed the boy to the medicinal aisle, grabbing a bottle of aspirin. "What else do you think I'll need?" he asked stupidly, anything to get the boy to talk again in his sweet, almost childlike voice.

"I might be good idea to grab some soup or something. You're stomach might not feel so hot tomorrow." Riku nodded, following the boy to canned foods aisle.

"I'm Riku," he began, selecting a can of chicken noodle from the shelf. He turned to the shorter boy and smiled at him, blissfully drunk.

"Pleased to meet you Riku, I'm Sora." They shook hands and Riku was surprised to note that Sora's hand was stone cold. Like ice.

After paying for the items, Riku and Sora ventured back outside only when Sora was sure the man was long gone. "Come on, Riku," he said, taking Riku's arm in his hand. "I'll walk you home."

"Okay," Riku said, feeling content yet safe all at the same time.

The walk from the store to Riku's apartment building was a short one, no more than three minutes long. Once they stopped in front of the door, Riku smiled at him jovially. "Would you like to come up to my apartment?" he asked.

The smile on Sora's face broke slightly, but only for a second, before it was replaced with his seemingly usual wide and warm smile. "I'd really like to, Riku, I really would, but I have to be getting back now."

"Where?" Riku asked, knowing as soon as he asked that it was a dumb question.

But Sora just continued to smile at him.

"Will I see you again?" Riku asked, more determined this time. At this point, he wanted nothing more than to see the boy again, especially since he hadn't given Namine a single thought since joining Sora's company.

Sora nodded.

"When?" Riku asked, his voice faltering slightly.

"Soon enough, Riku," Sora said, his hand grasping Riku's free hand tightly, tucking something cold and metallic into his pocket. Again, as Sora's hand brushed his bare arm, Riku noted how cold Sora's hand was.

Before he could blink, Sora was standing on tiptoes, his lips lightly brushing Riku's. Riku sighed, dropping his bag of hangover essentials, his other arm wrapping around to hold the back of Sora's head, kissing him deeply.

After a time, Riku felt Sora pull away. "I have to go now, Riku," he said, planting one last sweet kiss on Riku's lips.

When Riku opened his eyes, Sora was gone.

--

Riku probably would have slept blissfully for hours before he would have awoken with an annoying but persistent headache. As stated, he _probably_ would have, if not for the incessant knocking on his door at eight o'clock in the morning that was accompanied with the frenzied yelling of his name.

Clad in only his jeans slung low on his hips, moogle boxers peeking through, he made his way to the door, his hand rubbing his still sleep-ridden eyes. "I'm coming, I'm _coming_," he said, undoing the chain lock and latch on his door. He'd barely pulled the door open to see Kairi standing there when she was flinging herself at him in a hug, something falling from her hands.

"Happy to see you to, Kai," he said sarcastically, uncertainly wrapping his own arms around his best friend.

He felt tears slide down his bare chest as Kairi cried, her small frame shuddering. "I-I was so worried!" she said, then mumbling something completely incompressible. "So worried!

"Why?" Riku asked, pulling away from her slightly to look at her tear-stained face, worry clouding his own. "What's the matter?"

She bent to pick up what she'd dropped, a newspaper, holding it out for him to take. "At first I thought it was you," she said with a shudder, her voice verging on hysterical. "Before I actually read the article, I thought it might have been you! I _forced _you to leave your apartment. I would have been all my fault if it had been _you!_"

"No offense, Kai, but I seriously doubt you could force me to do anything." He instantly regretted his lame joke when he saw the look on her face. Instead, he took the newspaper from her, staring at today's headline. As he read, he felt his blood run cold.

_**Body Found Near Bar**_

_Destiny Island—A body was found at approximately 4:30 this morning by a woman walking her dog. The police report that the young man had been dead approximately two days, stabbed to death... _

Riku's eyes continued to scan the article without really taking much of it in. His eyes jumped to the left of the article to a picture of the deceased. He nearly had a heart attack right then.

Staring up at him was a senior photo of Sora, the boy who'd helped him out last night. His eyes wild, he looked up at Kairi.

Last night's memories flashed through his head; Sora walking beside him, informing Riku that someone was following him; the strange looks of the girl behind the counter, Sora walking him home, Sora kissing him goodnight, promising him that they'd see each other again someday…

"I _know _him, Kairi!" he said, his voice frantic.

Calming down some, Kairi frowned. "How did you know him, Riku? You just moved here. Even I didn't know him and I've lived here my whole life."

"I-I met him last night. He save me, Kairi, Sora saved my life."

"What? Riku what are you talking about?"

He explained how he had been walking home, how Sora had told him to get inside. "He was trying to protect me from the same thing happening to me. He save my life, Kairi."

"Riku, last night you were drunk," she said patiently. "You had a lot to drink, I can still smell it on you."

Frustrated, Riku slipped his hands inside his pockets, sighing. His fingertips brushed something metallic, warm from the prolonged close contact to his skin. Frowning, his fingers wrapped around the object pulling it out for them both to see.

Kairi's eyes grew wide, her hand settling over her mouth to bite back her surprise. "Look," she said, pointing to the smiling picture of Sora printed in the newspaper. Hanging round Sora's neck was the very crown-shaped necklace that now dangled from Riku's hand.

"I believe you, Riku," she said, her fingers lightly brushing the crown. "Sora saved your life."

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**Author's Notes: And that's all folks! Leave me a review to let me know what you think.**

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